I know most people think the news media is in the bag for Barack Obama. But the natural friction between the press corps and a President is already in full view.
"Press Relations Already Tense," was the headline on politico.com last night.
"Media Frustration Spills Into Briefing," said another.
How did this happen after only two days, you ask?
Well, the battles started on the very first morning of President Obama's term, as he went to the Oval Office.
Instead of inviting down photographers to get pictures of Mr. Obama at work on his first day, which is sort of the tradition, the Obama White House instead had its own people snap some pictures and then distribute them to news media organizations.
That left a bad taste in the mouth of the media, as the Associated Press, Agence France Press and Reuters all refused to send out the picture of the President speaking with his Chief of Staff in the Oval Office.
Those organizations argued it is standard operating procedure for the news media to be let in to take a few pictures on the new President's first day.
In fact, if you Google "Reuters first day oval office" - you get a picture of President George W. Bush from his first day in office in 2001.
The battle continued after that, as all three organizations refused to send out the White House photograph of Chief Justice John Roberts giving the oath of office again to Mr. Obama on Wednesday night.
Again, the only photographer to witness that historic footnote was the White House photographer. Yes, there were four print reporters in there, but there was no television pool camera and no radio pool.
"How is it transparent when you control the only image of the re-swearing," demanded Bill Plante of CBS News at the first White House briefing of Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
"There's nobody in there but four print reporters, there's no stills, there's no television?"
Gibbs tried his best to sidestep the issue, but other reporters started piling on, aggravated that Gibbs used the name of one of the senior administration officials who had briefed reporters earlier on Thursday, but wouldn't let reporters use that person's name in stories.
"Why did the administration believe it was important for the American people not to know the names of the two senior adminstration officials who briefed us on the Guantanamo Bay matter?" asked Ken Herman of Cox Newspapers, who just spent the last four years aggravating the Bush White House.
"We have a tradition here of covering the President," said an aggravated Plante.
Things didn't improve later when Obama himself ventured into the Press Room for a tour of all the tiny workspaces in the upper and lower press areas.
As reporters kept pressing the President for answers about one of his Defense nominees, the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue made clear his displeasure, saying he had popped in for a minute to say hello, not to answer questions.
There is no other place like the White House for the press corps and there is no other press corps with a chip on its shoulder like the White House press corps.
Rule Number One is to keep those people well fed and happy, because if you start off by pissing them off, it could be a long four years.
Stay tuned.
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